cas's fine art

[cas]

I recently bought ’60 Minutes to Better Painting’ by Craig Nelson, the result of which are the following four studies.

The suggested exercises impose time limits on each stage of the painting. So, for example, you're given only 3 minutes to complete the sketch before moving on to blocking in. It's very good practice for brush work and colour mixing. For most of my previous paintings I'd spend around 2 hours just mixing the colours, alone. Where as I have to get stuck-in straight away when I have a time limit.

They're all done in oil on canvas board measuring approximately 30x20 cms.

I’m a bit embarrassed to be posting these, but here you.

C+C always welcome.


60 minutes.


40 minutes.


60 minutes.


30 minutes.

[cas]

Hi All

I finished this drawing yesterday. It's a step up from my last, but still a long way to go.



The rendering is too noisy - perhaps someone can give me some tips?
Plus, I'm not sure whether I've managed to describe the perspective correctly. Does the pose 'work' for you?

Thanks
Chris

[cas]

Hi All

I spent the weekend in Switzerland painting with my cousin, who is an experienced painter. The 'mini-apprenticeship' has helped my painting move on a bit.

C+C appreciated.

Study of painting by Annie Swynnerton (1891) - Cupid & Psyche
Underpainting -


Final -


5 hour study at todays life-drawing class -

[cas]

I've started concentrating on anatomy since my weekend in Geneva and it appears to be paying off. The following drawing is my first attempt at some serious study. From life, it took around 3 hours to do. What I've found is that this new approach has meant I can memorise the pose - I'm doing less copying and more learning. Plus, my drawings now look more 3D than previously even without any shading.

Definitely beats the crap I posted two weeks ago, which I spent 6 hours over!



This drawing I also did from life in acrylics using a sable brush. Ran out of time before I could colour it in.



C+C always welcome.

Chris

[Rebecca]

niice, paintings, love how you get the colours so real. aaarg! I hate trying to mix colours.

anyway. I think that the mouths in some of the portraits, look as if they are going downhill too much. makes them look sad

[mentler]

See you have made it back ~~~ good to see you posting again ~~~ Nelson ahhh one I don't have ~~~ looks like you would recommend it ~~~ filming my DVDs after Aug. should be complete no later than Mid sept.
First one is on proportion and we will start turning them out after that on a regular basis.

Last figure study has your feet on the right path! Is is about form and form is described with planes and planes are defined will value and is translated into color ~~~~ that is about it!

[cas]

Thanks for your comments Rebecca and Mentler.

Rebecca - I've recently stuck to using a set palette of white, yellow ochre, red ochre, raw sienna, raw umber, terra verte and sometimes prussian blue/ultramarine blue. I wouldn't say the colours look real but it is easier to mix colours that work with each other when the palette is limited to a few colours which already complement each other.

Mentler - I look forward to getting hold of your book, more than your DVD's. Hope there are still plans for a release.

I recently finished reading 'Modelling and Sculpting the Human Figure' by Edouard Lanteri which, along with my cousins guidance, has resulted in the changes in my drawing. I realised that I shouldn't seperate my background in digital character modelling from my drawing - so I think my fine artwork will become more sculptural from now on.

Chris

[Badger]

Hey chris how have you been?
I LOVE this one , such a nice pallete the blues are gorgeous.
You can tell your 3D modelling roots coming through, i have a friend in a similar situation and his drawings are similarly sculptural.
Great work! impressive rate of improvement.
-Badger-

[Midnight]

Heh, nice stuff!

It'd be good to see some more detailed paintings, though (yeah, like I'm one to talk...).

Mid.

[Sems]

hey Cas, nice sketch book especially those 60 minute works keep em coming

[cas]

This weeks 6 hour drawing was a real hard slog even though I was being more methodical than usual. Even though I was measuring everything before putting it down it'd still end up looking wrong. I suppose I wasn't cross-referencing my measurements enough and probably not looking hard enough at whether my drawing looks correct. I should remember to also use the background as reference, as well.

Looking at it now I'm not sure whether it's an improvement over last weeks drawing.

[cas]

Some more long life studies for you all.

The first one I'm pretty happy with for the line quality, which may not be clear in the photo. What definitely needs to be worked on is my knowledge of anatomy - especially the skull. And of course measuring.



The second is my first charcoal study in almost a year. I don't know how to work with charcoal properly which is why this turned out so messy (plus, some charcoal got smuged off the paper on the way home, making it look even worse!). Will try again this Saturday.



C+C always appreciated.

Chris

[Badger]

The charcoal is a bit nutty, a few lighting probs in it. But i like the feel, it's got a lot of atmosphere in it.
The arm on the first one is so solid i wana poke it. Has a lot of depth.
Keep going with this stuff, i hope to see you at the next UK meet.
-B-

[mentler]

The problem you are having with measuring is universal <> most people don't know the correct method to measure <> you have to position your hand on the side of your drawing board or canvas and put shoulder under your chin like you are sighting a rifle <> you have to do this exactly the same for every measurement <> you need a long measuring devise like a yard stick <> hold it in the middle and always have your hand at the same position holding onto the canvas <> this is the only way to get you close to accurate measurement short of calipers <> that said I think have get a better kind of accuracy using proportions, skeletal landmarks, angular relationships and negative spaces <> if these are all close to where they should be then you should have a pretty believable drawing which I would choose over correct every time <> the other aspect is that when you spend so much time on a drawing one generally overworks the outline of the figure <> then result being very flat no matter how much rendering you do. However in this case I really like the drawing and think it to be much better than the previous post!

[cas]

Thanks for the feedback Badger and Mentler.

Mentler> I'll have a go at measuring using the method you've suggested.

More recently I've started marking the position of my feet to make sure I'm not moving about but I'm probably introducing a lot of inaccuracies with the top-half of my body. This is one of the reasons why I've decided to move to charcoal for now - it's easier to quickly start over when I see a mistake.

[Spacemanchuck]

Cas! Looking good, you are improving greatly, your painting looks very nice, the one with the blue background is wonderful... I think your biggest problem, like you pointed out, could be your anatomy. The top picture on this page is great. The only thing that throws it off is the position of the neck and her oversized right shoulder... Your line work is looking so much smoother, again on that top pic check out her legs and pelvus, they look really good... Maybe this will help you, but I really very rarly measure, I try to work directly from my eye most of the time. I find when I start to get too caught up in measuring my piece turns to hell real quick... Cya Cas!

[cas]

Hi Chucky

Hope things are going well in Austin? Still no thread of your own, eh?

Here's another charcoal drawing drawn yesterday in 3 hours. I've started enjoying the medium a lot because I'm now treating it more like paint and working in tonal masses as opposed to lines. I think the finish is still very rough as well as the drawing itself having many errors but I can see a way forward. Plus, got a similar finish to the previous drawing in half the time.

C+C much appreciated.

Chris

[van]

Your studies are looking great, cas.

[Spacemanchuck]

Ok im starting a sketchbook thread tonight! Its time. Hey do you use a digital cam to post your stuff? Are you working big? Cya Cas, your working hard I need to follow your example and get moving.

[cas]

Good to hear, Chucky!!

I take photographs of most of my work as it's either too big for a scanner or it's a painting.

Let me know when your threads up and I'll gladly take a look.

Chris

[mentler]

CAS <> good to see you posting <> last figure has a couple of problems <> knees are closest thing to the viewer <> your focal points are the buttock and head <> choose one <> if this were my drawing I would let the knees come forward more and would overlap them more convincingly leading the viewer then to the face <> I would subdue the gluts.

[the_allejo05]

hmm nice artwork....keep posting

[cas]

Thanks Mentler and the_allejo05

Mentler: I'll start working on focussing the image more with the help of a book by Douglas Graves, 'Life Drawing in Charcoal'. I'm now armed with a chamois, paint brush, and a soft pen-type-thing to help with rendering a focus.

By the way, I'll be posting a lot more work as of October as I've handed in my notice at work and I'm moving to Poland for two years of concentrated study in oil painting. Can't wait!

Chris

[cas]

Fast-forward 2 years.

My 2 years of study in Poland have come to an end and I'm now living in Z&#252;rich, Switzerland. Here's some of my recent work. C+C - good and bad - kindly received.

I'll start taking a look around to see what old friends have been up to.

Thanks for looking!
Chris

Gesture drawings from life; 2-15 minutes





Paintings and concept art, to follow.

[cas]

Hi All!

Thumbnail age/gender studies for today's update. I started working with marker pens recently after looking through my The Art of Star Wars books for inspiration. I love the painterly approach it's possible to achieve.

C+C always welcome!

Chris

[cas]

Today's serving is an environment from imagination. In fact, it's the second such environment I've ever done, so C+C's are more than welcome.

Cheers!
Chris

[cas]

Hi All!

Thought I'd resurrect this thread since my friend, Cukier, started posting on ConceptArt. It's been a while so apologies that any previous links don't work. I'll try reconnect them when I have the time (since I've moved my website).

Some paintings and drawings I've done in the past year. C+C always welcome.

Ballpoint pen on paper


Pencil on paper





Oil in canvas board

[CUKIERass]

Chris! Man those oils are just woow first (left side) somethin "evil" in his face and those colours! Love em!ballpoint, damn so much inspiration and I can't draw now arghhhh got to wait till tommorow! And those anatomy studies-are those bridgemans?

[cas]

Hi All

Here are some quick sketches during my recent holiday in the Swiss Alps; a beautiful valley called Posciavo. I stayed in San Romerio, a small farm fairly high up on the mountain.




C+C always welcome.

[CUKIERass]

beautiful place for sure! Nice sketches- all I can say is that those drawings "feed" my imagination now I have to go there.